A Sherwood, Arkansas 60+ year fundraising firm business has been forced to close its doors and suspend services. This forced letting 300 employees go just before Christmas following a crippling ransomware attack in October.
The Heritage Company is a professional tele-fundraiser in the nation serving America’s most prestigious nonprofits. The business’ servers were attacked by malicious software, holding them hostage for ransom and forcing no other option than to pay the cybercriminals. The malicious ransomware hit the heart of the company, taking out the firm’s accounting systems and mail center, so it had no way of processing and receiving funds and sending statements out.
The Heritage Company is still hopeful this is not the end of the road after six decades in business. They were unfortunately left with only two options – closing their doors entirely or suspend their services until they can regroup and reorganize while getting their systems running again. They chose to suspend operations and not give up.
The incident is a timely reminder of the impact ransomware can have on small and medium-sized businesses reliant on mission-critical IT systems. Having minimal resources or the knowledge to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks makes these businesses an easy victim. While on the surface, it may appear ransomware brought about the demise of The Heritage Company, it can be noted that a lack of real-time cybersecurity and a resilient disaster recovery plan can be the real culprit.
Cybersecurity attacks are now targeting all businesses, from big to small, making every business a risk. With the proper cybersecurity, policies, and procedures put into place and followed, your risk and vulnerability will decrease and cease. Contact us at 502.267.2552 to find out how we can keep your business safe.
